Varnishing before the model is done?

Michael Stockin

Michael Stockin

Lord
Bear with me on this.

Do any of you varnish parts of your model before it is complete?


For example, I almost always do faces first, the reason being if the face is not good the whole model is not good, so the face needs to be done well, so I do that first.
But once the face is done, I varnish it and move on to the next thing and then varnish that once done, and so on.

Why?
My reasons may well be entirely spurious and without truth, but in my head it makes it easier to wipe of rogue bits of paint when the inevitable brush error occurs, you are brushing rogue paint off varnish rather than a top layer of paint.
I also tend to hold my models by other bits of the model when painting so the varnish helps protect against touchy greasy sticky acidy finger errors.
 
"It sometimes helps but not often" (sigh the number of people who'll source that quote are small)

well, sometimes I do varnish before finishing. it does help give some protection before final details and yes, it can help if you screw up the next layer and want to clean that up a bit ^_^

also, I think it might give much better protection if you varnish between layers, but I never quite go that far.
 
I had to seal the white ink I used on my ghosts because the speed paint I used interacted badly with the ink. That tends to be the only reason I've varnished things before finishing. So I've also done it before oil washes and to seal in cracked/crackle paint finishes before moving onto more details.

So I guess that's for similar reasons to you, but I very rarely do it.
 
My models get several coats of varnish throughout mainly as I use different brands that have different finishes so the varnish helps me see how it will look.
 
I make heavy use of Army Painter strong tone, which can be very shiny. Sometimes I use a matt varnish after washing to dull that down, then highlight afterwards.
 
I actually stopped varnishing in 2020 when I ran out of varnish... and to be honest it hasn't presented any problems for me. I do have a tin of spray varnish now but I'm actually worried about wrecking stuff with it, especially as where I live hardly ever presents the ideal climate for spraying...
 
I varnish all the time. Locks in any glazing I do. I handle the models while I paint so if a part of the model like the armour is done I’ll varnish it and move to the next part. Like other peeps have mentioned it helps with washes too. They seem to not stain as much and pools in the crevices a bit better.
 
I do when using oil washes for pin washes; over a gloss varnished surface they flow even better and can afterwards easily be removed with Mineral spirits; when I want the oil wash to stain the area more I don't varnish.

When you varnish and want to remove paint spills, you also can use a brush dampened with ISO for paint removal.
 
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